The BBC and ‘swearing aliens’

It’s as humorous as it is stupid. Brian Cox, the British astronomer and presenter of Stargazing Live, wanted to listen to a newly discovered planet live on BBC television. It was a planet that no one had listened to yet. However, Cox writes that he was notified that he was not allowed to do so….

According to Cox:

“The BBC actually said, ‘But you can’t do that because we need to go through the regulations and health and safety and everything in case we discover a signal from an alien civilisation’.”

The point of these regulations are that it was possible that the aliens would swear and curse, and the BBC does not allow that…